Wireless local area networks (LANs) are gaining substantial acceptance as a means for providing connectivity over a restricted area to mobile devices. Whilst there are a number of different wireless LAN architectures and the present invention is not limited to any particular one (or, indeed to wireless LANs), the following description is generally written using the terminology applied in the ANSI/IEEE Standard 802.11 (“Wireless LAN Medium Access Control and Physical Layer Specifications”). More particularly, FIG. 1 of the accompanying drawings illustrates the main components of a wireless LAN using that terminology. Thus, a typical wireless LAN 5 comprises a distribution system 10 that serves to interconnect a number of access points (AP) 11 via a network. Each access point 11 connects with mobile stations (MS) 12 over a wireless medium to form a Basic Service Set 13 (BSS1 and BSS2). The totality of the basic service sets and the network that interconnects them is called an Extended Service Set (ESS). The wireless LAN can connect with other networks via a portal 15.
Wireless LANs can be used to provide connectivity over limited areas such as public spaces and publicly-accessible premises, both commercial and non-commercial. It is expected that, in the future, places of social gathering such as bars and clubs will provide wireless LANS as a facility to their customers to enable them, for example, to connect to locally-provided services (such as ordering food and drink in the premises concerned) as well as providing access to the wider public Internet.
One increasingly popular network-based pastime is participation in network-based multi-player virtual games. A commercial premise wishing to attract customers could thus decide to provide a network game system on the wireless LAN of the premises; however, the restricted size of the pool of available players is unlikely to make this attractive as there would rarely be sufficient players of the right skill levels to provide a good game experience. On the other hand, merely having the wireless LAN serve as a point of access to Internet-based network games does not set the premises apart as the place to come to partake in network games.
What is required is some way of linking the game-play experience of a virtual game player participating in a network-based multi-player game with the premises (or more generally, the system) providing the player with access to the game.